Prologue: Consequences -- Trapped in the casino -- Everything is gamergate -- Opening the portal -- Tyranny of cousins -- Awakening the machine -- The fun house mirror -- The germs and the wind -- Church bells -- The rabbit hole -- The new overlords -- Dictatorship of the like -- Infodemic -- Epilogue: Whistleblowing

The gripping and galling inside story of how Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and other social networks preyed on psychological frailties to create the algorithms that drive everyday users to extreme opinions and, increasingly, extreme actions. The companies' founding tenets, combined with a blinkered focus on maximizing engagement, have led to a destabilized world for everyone. -- adapted from jacket